In just a few days, we will be privy to a unique and wonderful event, and all you have to do is look to the skies to see it. New Orleans has a front row seat for this incredible lunar event, and you won’t want to miss it.
On January 20, be sure to look up at the sky that evening for a rare and wonderful total lunar eclipse.
Don Pirolo/Flickr This will be the first total eclipse that’s visible in its entirety in the United States since 2010, and we won’t see another like it until 2021.
The lunar eclipse will last for an hour and two minutes.
Andy Simonds/Flickr The eclipse will begin at 8:36pm CST on January 20th. The full eclipse, which is characterized by the blood-red color that’s cast on the moon, will begin at 10:41 pm and last until 11:43pm, when it will reach “totality”, when the Earth’s shadow will cover the entire surface of the moon.
But this isn’t just an ordinary lunar eclipse.
Wikimedia This particular lunar eclipse will be a supermoon, which happens when the moon is the closest in its orbit to Earth, making the moon appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual. Supermoons occur in about one in every 14 full moons.
And it’s also a blood moon.
Farhan/Flickr When a total lunar eclipse occurs, the Earth passes in between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow over the moon. When this happens, some sunlight gets filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere which reflects onto the moon, giving it a reddish tinge.
And since it’s the first full moon of the year, it’s also a Wolf Moon, which is just an older term for the first full moon in January.
Put all of that together, and you have what’s being nicknamed as a “Super Blood Wolf Moon.”
Bernd Thaller/Flickr You won’t need any fancy gear to watch it either, unlike the solar eclipse from last year. All you need to do is look at the moon and hope for clear skies, and you’ll be able to watch this once in a lifetime celestial event.
Are you planning on watching it? Let us know in the comments below!
Don Pirolo/Flickr
This will be the first total eclipse that’s visible in its entirety in the United States since 2010, and we won’t see another like it until 2021.
Andy Simonds/Flickr
The eclipse will begin at 8:36pm CST on January 20th. The full eclipse, which is characterized by the blood-red color that’s cast on the moon, will begin at 10:41 pm and last until 11:43pm, when it will reach “totality”, when the Earth’s shadow will cover the entire surface of the moon.
Wikimedia
This particular lunar eclipse will be a supermoon, which happens when the moon is the closest in its orbit to Earth, making the moon appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual. Supermoons occur in about one in every 14 full moons.
Farhan/Flickr
When a total lunar eclipse occurs, the Earth passes in between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow over the moon. When this happens, some sunlight gets filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere which reflects onto the moon, giving it a reddish tinge.
And since it’s the first full moon of the year, it’s also a Wolf Moon, which is just an older term for the first full moon in January.
Bernd Thaller/Flickr
You won’t need any fancy gear to watch it either, unlike the solar eclipse from last year. All you need to do is look at the moon and hope for clear skies, and you’ll be able to watch this once in a lifetime celestial event.
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